Upon Attempting to read Milton

Upon attempting to read Milton
And Paradise Lost
I found myself
 unprepared.
As Satan,
 arrogant, unrepentant
surveyed his followers,
Fallen and dispirited,
I struggled to retain concentration
on a story I am,
in fact,
quite interested in.
The poetry is uneven,
and I understand
maybe
half the references
and my phone lights up
and suddenly
 I am
scrolling
scrolling
scrolling
Wait,
 what was I doing?
Ah yes, a text,
fallen from the heavens.
Okay,
but before that?
Ah yes,
Lucifer surveys hell
and decides it might look good
with a few throw pillows
and a lack of heavenly oversight.
And there are so many footnotes.
Should I read the footnotes?
No.
Struggling to maintain
enough concentration
 to comprehend
the general flow
 of the poem
will probably tax me enough.
Shit,
this is good.
Angels swarm like Locusts.
Lucifer undaunted.
Beelzebub, Belial, Moloch.
Sinister, rebellious.
The cat is crying.
Goddamn it cat
I am reading John Milton.
And my concentration
is anemic enough
without your caterwauling.
ha,
 caterwauling.
Wait,
 that's just where it comes from.
Where was I?
Milton. Satan. Hell.
Okay, that's 5 pages.
Time for a break.
Why is it so much harder
 to make
the time and space
to read and study
than it was 20 years ago?
I should be
at the height of my powers
Arrogant, rebellious
Instead
Atrophied, superfluous
Surveying hell
Alas.